by Thinus Ferreira
Furious South Africans are extremely angry, reacting with scorn and resentment and saying they won't pay, following the revelation from the financially struggling South African public broadcaster that the amount owed in overdue SABC TV Licence fees plus fines has ballooned to an astronomical R44.2 billion owed by over 9.2 million people.
Millions of South Africans are constantly hounded by incessant calls and SMSes from the SABC itself as well as several debt collector companies for long-overdue SABC TV Licence fees piling up annually, with many who no longer have TV sets, who have died, left South Africa years ago, and those who simply refuse to pay - or can't pay - massive arrears built up over years.
The minister of communication and digital technologies, Mondli Gungubele, in a written response to a parliamentary question from the EFF political party's MP Sinawo Tambo, revealed that the SABC is owed a staggering R44.2 billion from 9.2 million people in SABC TV Licence fees, with the details of at least 5.6 million people who have been given to debt collection agencies.
For years the SABC has spent more money on SABC TV Licence fee collection than what it made from SABC TV Licence fees, which are pegged at R265 per year and accumulate fines when not paid.
Over R44 billion is sitting on the SABC's balance sheet as unrealised "revenue" from SABC TV Licence fees that keeps growing - money that on paper it is supposed to still receive but it is unlikely to ever collect from people who are dead, left South Africa years ago, don't have work, from TV sets they've long since parted with, got stolen or no longer works.
The beleaguered SABC which got a R3.2 billion government bailout in October 2019 is once again set to post a massive loss of over R1 billion for the 2022/2023 financial year, blaming falling TV ratings, a downturn in advertising income, Eskom's loadshedding and the loss of audience from the South African government's haphazard switch-off of Sentech's analogue TV signal transmitters for the loss.
While the SABC keeps billing the 10.5 million South African TV households it knows about and whose records are on its outdated database, tens of millions more are watching television in the country without a SABC TV Licence.
This ranges from people using TV sets to stream shows from Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to Showmax and Disney+, watching traditional pay-TV like MultiChoice's DStv or who are subscribed to StarTimes Media SA's StarSat, as well as people watching YouTube, downloading torrents on a computer, or accessing video channels on smart TVs.
Meanwhile, the so-called "fee evasion rate" - the percentage of people who have a SABC TV Licence but simply don't bother to pay it - stands at a whopping 81.7%: After billing R4.446 billion during its 2021/2022 financial year, the public broadcaster only got R815 million in TV Licence income.
The SABC makes it difficult and cumbersome for an existing SABC TV Licence to be cancelled, with many South Africans who say they've tried and gave up from sheer exasperation. While the SABC keeps top billing SABC TV Licence fees, these fee amounts grow with the addition of fines.
"You lot are still billing our dead grandma, go collect it yourself, I'll give you her plot number," said Mark Elliott.
Shea Bethell noted that she's "been telling them for about 8 years that I no longer have a TV. They simply ignore the email and send another statement".
Mamotsepe Maimane mentioned that "The TV in my name died of the first power surge before loadshedding even had a name in 2009 and Eskom didn't want to pay for it. So they can dala what they must cause I don't watch TV anymore anyway".
Glisson Niekerk says "I tried for over 10 years to tell you that I don't have a TV and don't live in the country anymore but still you kept on charging and charging. SABC, if only you could get a department to sort this out, the amount will come down considerably".
Mthunzi Dlamini says "I've asked several times why we have to pay TV Licences. I owe smart TVs, watches Netflix, Showmax and the likes. No DStv and definitely no SABC content, so why should I pay TV Licence?"
According to Moses Jay "I'm going through the same torment each and every year - I've sent signed and stamped affidavits and they keep assigning clueless debt collectors".
"I'm one of those," said Nonhlanhla Totongwana. "They keep adding penalities [to the TV set] I stopped watching 10 years ago. I'm watching on my friends's smart TV". Another non-SABC TV Licence payer noted: "They're calling and SMSing me every day, it's so annoying. They are threatening me with lawyers, arrears, credit bureau. I told them I'm unemployed and haven't had a TV for a year now. They must do the worst.".
Mjali Siyaziwa says "I've been cancelling mine for the past 18 years. It disappears and resurfaces every three to five years with arrears".
Thana Mokgoatjana adds: "Even though you email them a case number that you had a burglary, they still demand. Now why would I pay TV Licence when I don't have a TV set anymore?"
